Health and Cognition in Old Age: From Biomedical and Life Course Factors to Policy and Practice

In recent years, the aim of research on aging has shifted from prolonging life to fostering healthy and cognitively robust aging of older people. In order to improve the quality of life of older people, we need to better understand cognitive aging as well as bodily aging.

Health and Cognition in Old Age assembles the cream of research across varied medical, mental health, and social disciplines, and demonstrates how this knowledge can lead to improved outcomes for older people. The first half of this expert volume discusses biomedical and life course factors in aging, particularly as they affect cognition and well-being in later life. From there, effective solutions are the focus: interventions and care programs to improve mental functioning and general quality of life, and current policy and practice ideas in promoting healthy, active, and cognitively robust aging. Together, these diverse chapters offer a multi-faceted approach to understanding and modifying what was formerly the inevitable course of growing old. A sampling of the coverage:

• How the aging process affects the immune system.
• Occupational gerontology – work-related determinants of old age health and functioning.
• Social, behavioral, and contextual influences on cognitive function and decline.
• Lifestyle factors in the prevention of dementia.
• Understanding long-term care outcomes: conventional and behavioral economics.
• Social capital, mental well-being, and loneliness in older people.

For gerontologists, sociologists, social workers, health psychologists, and others working to improve older people’s lives, Health and Cognition in Old Age brings expertise, versatility, and confidence to the table.